dollmania

I think I might have caused husbands all over America some financial heartache.

In my recent doll frenzy I may have been guilty of posting way too many pictures of cute dolls in one of my cloth diapering groups on Facebook. There was no malice or intent to my actions but I fear many a husband has now suffered the consequences of this idle posting. By my last count ten waldorf dolls are now on their way to new homes with mamas I infected with the doll bug.

Of course they are not alone in this epidemic. My collection seems to be growing bigger by the day. And there's another one the way...



The Girls circa early November 2012

Velvet, a 15" Bamboletta OTW

I started my own facebook group so that we could all get together and coo over dolls and enable each other's reckless abandon with hard-earned money. It's now my favorite online hang out.

My latest project, as a result of this epidemic, was to attempt to make some dolly clothes for one of the girls in the group who has just bought her first waldorf boy. She's literally obsessed with skulls, and wanted to give him a punk rock makeover. This, as you know, is a cause after my own heart. It would have been a great surprise but I'm crap at surprises so I told her I was going to do it. Side note: The selection of edgy fabrics at Jo-Ann is as crap as I am with surprises. But I did manage to find something that would work. I am cheap so after a quick google search realizing you have to pay for patterns for just about everything, I decided to wing it.

No more than one hour later...Ta Da!

 

I have to say I'm pretty impressed with myself. Now don't get me wrong, the inside of this thing is hideous and sadly since I didn't really know how to measure and put it together, there's not a hope in hell that it will zip up (mainly because I don't know how to add a zipper, but also because it's too small). The good news is I think hoodies look much cooler unzipped anyway.

 

Can't wait for her to see the finished product, and even more excited to see it on her little punk rock prince, who of course has green and blueish hair. Pretty cool if you ask me.

 

My final reflection on this project, other than I would like to make a lot more of these, is who would have thought the girl that wore pretty much nothing buy skull hoodies a few years ago would now be making them for dolls, or, more accurately, making them for online friends of people she infected with the doll frenzy bug? Next, pigs will fly and the Redskins will win a SuperBowl, which I guess is kind of a similar concept...

bootay spray

Taking a step further into the land of the crunchy, today I made my own cloth wipe solution, or as I like to call it, bootay spray. I started using regular old baby wipes I was given at my shower, as if there is one thing I hate more than artificial things it's wasting free stuff. When they were getting close to running out I made my own cloth wipes. Making those was the first time I had come into contact with a sewing machine since high school. That's how old I am by the way, that there were still sewing classes for us girls, to teach us to become excellent housewives. I never did well in such classes, in fact, the worst grade I ever got in school was in Home Economics. Go figure. But now, being Suzie Fucking Homemaker as I have named myself, I am wishing I had listened better.

The cloth wipes are easy. Easy enough a small child could do them. The only trial and error I had was figuring out what I liked best in terms of materials and edges. Turns out double layered flannel serged is what this lady loves. I did some flannel/terry which are nice for the super poops but not my favorite. Turning and topstiching was all well and good, but serging was perfectly sufficient.

I had on hand some Kissuluv's Lotion Potion, which I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed over the past three months whilst using these wipes. However, I am as much a cheap skate as an ever-crunchier mom and had been planning to make my own wipe solution once it ran out.

D-day is upon us. It's almost out. There are tons of "recipes" for homemade wipe solution and I could have followed any number of them. Eco-crazy mom (nice name) has a great list here http://ecocrazymom.com/homemade-cloth-wipe-solutions-recipes/. But ever the trailblazer I decide to mix my own concoction. It is Halloween after all, so a little hubble bubble toil and trouble is in order.

I got everything I needed from my local ghetto shopping center by perusing the Dollar Store and CVS. The truly granola would be horrified to know that I used Johnson and Johsnon baby wash, because I have two enormous bottles of it I got at Costco before I found out about how shady they are and how using their products makes you - what is the opposite of crunchy?...soggy? I will find something more natural and eco-friendly for the next batch but like I told you, I'm cheap.

The basic jist of homemade wipe solution is that you need water, oil, soap and some essential oils, of which tee tree is a favorite. I went with tee tree oil, eucalyptus (because it smells delicious) and then also stocked up on some olive and sweet almond oil to experiment with. I got a 4oz bottle of vitamin E oil from the Dollar Store for $2 (have you ever noticed that NOTHING in there is actually $1?) for my main oil base. I started with a small bottle to see how it turned out so I added:

1/8 cup vitamin E oil
1/8 cup baby soap
1/2 cup water
Hannah sized splash of tee tree oil
Hannah sized splash of eucalyptus oil

I could have been more precise, but they didn't come with droppers so oh well. It smells great and I tested it on my hand and it left it feeling very clean and smooth. I hope it does the same to her butt, as well as cleans up the poop of course! A little advice that I was given so I will pass along...always add the water first, oils second and soap last. By starting with water you’ll avoid creating bubbles, and the oil will coat whatever you are measuring with allowing the soap to easily slide off into the solution. Good thinking Batman.

So now we have a totally crunchy baby butt. Cloth wipes, homemade wipe solution and coconut oil as diaper cream. Score another one for me, I'm feeling good about Ryleigh's carbon footprint. And did I mention how much cheaper all this is??

oh no she didn't just finish the dragon?!

Yes, that's right. The dragon is finally finished! I only take partial responsibility for the delay as there was a hold up with the joints arriving in the mail. I got him done the same day they arrived so I'm pretty sure that makes me an overachiever.

From a distance this little work of art is amazing. If you look closer you might suggest I take some sewing lessons, or point out that his feet are completely different sizes or that his arms come more from the back than his sides and so on and so forth. If you were to pull him apart (which would probably be quite easy to do) you'd see I screwed up the joints on one side and the leg joint is on the arm and vice versa. But all in all, this was really a fun little project, and I learnt a lot. Not least about how I don't follow direction very well. I kept skipping ahead in the pattern and all that did was create more work for me. If you decide to make a dragon, I urge you to follow directions. Sounds simple but not for us overachivers ;)

Here's the little love muffin posing around the house. We are going to call him Toby...

Toby's first words were that he wants a sister, but I have a couple other little side projects in mind first while our dining room table has been taken over my sewing supplies and the hubs isn't complaining. He'll get a sister soon enough. Right now I am I feel like a supermom, crafty-mom-of-the-year and like I really should get some sort of award or trophy for completing this project. But Ryleigh took a good hard look at little Toby and broke an ear to ear grin, and wouldn't you know, that was more than enough for me.

she's all that...and a bag of chips

So Scarlett is made-over. If that's even a word. I have to say I'm slightly embarassed to admit how much I have enjoyed playing with the doll. I feel like it diminishes my claim that I am a grown up. Who knew that motherhood would make me regress back into childhood?

The poor girl's little dresses from Lisa's Little Lasses are a little tight around the next because she's built a little bit like James Harrison (for those of you who don't know he's one of my favorite Steelers, not a small man). I sympathize with her that she will forever be squeezing into clothing that's not quite big enough but it is the affliction of the fairer sex. I also don't care because I am so in love with her sweater that Mary Ellen knit I don't think she'll be showing too much of her arms. I think it's the most darling thing. And I don't think I have ever used the word darling before...Here she is enjoying her new dresses...

As you can see I went back to the messy buns. Just can't escape the cuteness of those damn things, and after watching a number of You Tube tutorials (yes, it's true, You Tube continues to amaze me too) on how to do them, I think they turned out pretty swell. And speaking of swell, here is the aforementioned darling little sweater. I think next Mary Ellen should knit me one, because I would wear that!

 

I have abandoned the idea of trying to re-do her eyes because I've decided that now with her gorgeous new clothes they are quite lovely just as they are. I'm sure little Scarlett is overjoyed that I will not be coming at her with a four inch needle any time soon. I will leave the art of these dolls to the makers I think, and admit that all I really am is a big kid that likes to dress them up and play with them. Post make-over Scarlett is so cute she's not going to be allowed into rotation with Ryleigh for quite some time...

 

Scarlett with her new wardrobe!

I'm ready to do it all again. Which means I am cleared to start trauling the Waldorf Adoptions pages on Facebook again to find another bargain basement project doll. Happy does not even start to describe it! So for now, it's goodbye, I have some shopping to do ;)

 

the great dolly makeover

It's no secret that I have recently become obsessed with Waldorf Dolls - even more so than I am with cloth diapers, which anyone who has seen Ryleigh's room would know means I am like really, really obsessed. The problem with these dolls is that despite the fact I have now successfully sewn about half a dragon, I am nowhere near crafty enough to make one, and they are eye-wateringly expensive. You quickly get desensitized to their prices when you fall in love with them though. At least I and about 1211 other people that currently belong to a Facebook group I now spend hours a day in seemed to. Suddenly now anything under $200 seems like a bargain, and every doll maker I stumble across promptly gets "liked" and then I drool over the upload pictures and sometimes even try to cart them just for fun. I usually then realize I am completely insane and cannot possibly justify buying another one of these pricey beauties and drop them from the cart. Sometimes I don't. And sometimes when I do I really regret it later.

So the hunt has been on for a bargain doll, and I kept finding myself coming back to one on the adoption page. She's not my usual type (yes, I already have a type, thank you) but I thought she was kind of cute, and in great need of a makeover. Plus I thought, for $50 (and I know the pragmatic of you are still flabbergasted at that price) I wouldn't be scared to take her out of the box like I am my dear Bamboletta Zara (www.bamboletta.com) and new addition this week Dragon's Fly Hollow girl Nairobi (www.dragonsflyhollowshop.com). Here they are by the way, works of art don't you think...

So anyway, I keep coming back to this little redhead squish, a Gumdrop Kid (http://www.etsy.com/shop/crazybaby) custom that found herself relogated to the closet. I got her for a steal and decided that she would be my little project doll. I like her skirt and shoes well enough but I think tube tops on dolls, much like on people, are a little slutty to be quite honest. I also want to play around with her hair and if I'm brave enough make her eyes a little bigger and darker but we'll see about that. I'll be damned if I don't think if I can make her nearly as cute as her $300 counterparts. I might be overly ambitious, time will tell becaus right now, she's got a long way to go. This was the photo posted that I kept returning to. Amidst all the gorgeousness, she was looking a little unfortunate, which along with the pricetag drew me to her. I have a soft spot for the underloved and appreciated, she was there for so long, and the kid has potential, you know?

 

Scarlett arrived today. While I realize her name is not original at all, it's quite appropriate and, in spite of her tube top, classy. After we got her out of her shoe box I immediately was transformed back into a little girl and spent an hour playing with her hair, trying out messy buns like the Bambo's often sport, a number of different braided options and eventually settling with something rather simpler that allowed her abundance of hair to really be on display.

I'm sure I will re-do it a thousand times before her makeover is complete but for now, I have a new appreciation for her long red locks I thought I wanted for sure to choke in messy buns. Perhaps this early on in my journey I am realizing I cannot imitate the Bamboletta look, and we will beat our own path instead. Again, we'll see.

What she desperately needs is some new rags, and I found a really sweet seller on etsy who custom knits for dolls (http://www.etsy.com/shop/DollysFavorite1). I know you are now thinking I have gone completely round the bend, and I may well have done. Either way, Mary Ellen is knitting up a cute little turquoise number just like this for our little project girl, and I can't wait for it to arrive!

This also further solidifies my need to learn the art of knitting so that I can make doll clothes. Maybe even matching doll and daughter clothes. When I start making a trio of matching clothes for dolly, daughter and mommy feel free to smack me hard, preferably with something heavy.

Whilst shopping around Etsy I also found another couple of cute outfits that will match her hair and cute little shoes from Lisa's Little Lasses Boutique (try saying that over and over), http://www.etsy.com/shop/lisaslittlelasses for when she needs to get dressed up for tea. Ok, I realize I am starting to sound like a lunatic...at least you didn't get to see me squee over them and excitedly buy them as if they were Coach purses or puppies.

So just when you were enjoying the dragon-making posts, I am diverting and going doll crazy with my makeover girl. Sorry. And the expensive and already perfect beauties shall sit in a box until Ryleigh is old enough to know that drooling on your doll is not allowed unless it costs less than a pair of mommy's jeans, which sadly for her means not even little Scarlett gets unsupervised play. Mommy wears cheap jeans so you can have expensive dolls you can't play with, sorry kid.

the girl with the tattoo makes a dragon - part three...

In spite of myself, progress is being made with our little dragon friend. I have been wondering what I am going to name him when this labor of love is done, and am contemplating making him a sister with the reverse coloring. I should probably be concentrating on finishing this little scrap first but that's not my way. It is fairly likely I will start dragon #2 before this one is hatched.

The rest of the sewing has been pretty uneventful, with the exception of the wings which was largely due to my ineptitude with the sewing machine and its myriad of stitching choices. In the end I went for more is better and just sewed over my ugly stitches with thicker ones. This fits in with my usual plan of action that when you screw up a bit, just do it again and again and then it doesn't seem like such a big deal.

Dragon feet are a pain in the ass to sew, despite some good advice on making pretty feet provided by http://www.funkyfriendsfactory.com/2010/10/21/put-your-best-foot-forward-how-to-sew-perfect-plushie-feet/. My feet are not perfect plushie feet, but I have reached the point of abandoning perfectionism and just being glad that the body parts are recognizable.

I am impatiently awaiting the arrival of the mini-kit I bought which contains the joints and eyes for little dragon man so I decided to go ahead and stuff his head and tail. I had to make a little heart to sew on the end of his tail, as my crap seamstressing is already apparent and when I turned and stuffed it there was a lovely little hole right at the tip. Of course I could have said I was just using my creativity to make it my own, but it's too late for that lie now.

So here he is, looking a little like a cow but still dragonesque. He's giving the thumbs up despite looking like roadkill, having a lumpy tail and one foot considerably larger than the other. All adds to the character I say.

 

 

And just when I was feeling pretty accomplished for getting this far, patterns have emerged for an egg from which to hatch your dragon from, a layette for him to wear, and now there is talk of unicorns and seahorses.

I'm back to feeling like a 12 year old might be better at this toy-making malarky.



the girl with the tattoo makes a dragon - part two

 

The title of this post could very well have been "Jo-Ann's - The Revenge". I figured, clearly quite incorrectly, that would be the best place for me to take my list of ingredients to hatch this dragon. Let me explain what I know about sewing...nothing. Or rather, to be more accurate, I know that it involves needles and thread, and that sewing machines have different needles to the ones you hand sew with, and that thread comes in a lot of different colors and types. This limited knowledge was like a Masters in Crafts compared to the "assistant" that tried to help me in Jo-Ann's. What made it all the more stressful was the smell of the enormous crap Ryleigh took as soon as we walked in that I had a sneaking suspicion was going to start leaking out of her diaper, into the stroller and all over the floor at any given moment.

 

All the fellow moms will know that there are places it's convenient to change a diaper, and places where you would rather let your kid sit in shit for ten minutes. Jo-Ann's is definitely the latter. Of course I didn't know that ten minutes could well have turned into three hours if I had waited to get some good advice or guidance. In the end I did what I do best, got indignant and then figured it out my own damn self. For those that are interested, when it came to diaper changing time, it was nearly as bad as I had forcasted.

 

The anticipation of starting this project that had been decided upon less than 24 hours ago was killing me, as if the successful completion of this dragon would have some bearing on my success as a parent generally. What I did not anticipate was how hard the damn cutting part would be. Easy enough for a twelve year old she said...a twelve year old with some kick ass scissors and tracing ability I say. Feeling only slightly handicapped, two hours later, I had a bunch of dragon pieces with wobbly lines, hopefully cut in the right stretch direction with fuzzy sides appropriately mirrored.

 

I was going to leave it at that for the day, because I was feeling quite accomplished, but the impatience that pretty much defines me took over, and I decided to try a little of the sewing. Here I did require some assistance from my mother, because in case you don't know, sewing machines are now much like space shuttles and require an engineering degree to operate. But I was quite pleased with myself that I at least figured out it had a stretch stitch, and since fleece is stretchy, picked that one, which worked quite well. Half an hour and a chopstick poke or two later, my little dragon has arms, ears and horns and I have just awarded myself Crafty Mama of the Year.

Thank you, thank you, you are too kind.

the girl with the tattoo makes a dragon - part one

I anticipate that the time between starting this post and publishing it will be quite extended, but I guess if you are reading this you would be none the wiser had I not just mentioned it.

Trying to explain how I stumbled across this project may make little sense to non-doll crazed individuals but I have never cared whether things make sense to others if they do to me. I belong to a Facebook group where I waste hours drooling over dolls and shooting the shit with other doll-loving mamas. One of these women is a super talented mama who makes adorable little dragons that are so cute you will actually puke rainbow sparkles. You can find her on Etsy (where else?) at http://www.etsy.com/shop/NimblePhish.

You just puked rainbow sparkles right? I told you so.

Anyway, she has very recently ventured into patterns and I am proud to be one of the first people to have bought her sleepy dragon pattern to make this little love muffin.


http://www.etsy.com/listing/111420562/how-to-make-a-dragon-14-sleepy-baby

She said it was so easy that a beginner could do it, a twelve year old even, which I rather suspected would make me feel even more of a noob than I already did amongst these crafty moms that all seem to make as many dolls as they buy. But I bought it anyway, I mean, look at that thing. There was quickly a Facebook spin off group dedicated to discussing how we were all progressing with our dragons where the only rule instated at it's creation was "don't be a dick". I got a good laugh when I commented that I hoped to sew the tail on the right end so it didn't look like a massive cock. You can see why I like dolly mamas.

The first thing I did was look at the pattern and realize that I am whatever comes before beginner, and that my craft age is clearly under twelve. Luckily nobody seemed to care that I have super stupid questions and they indulged me with their patience and advice.

I dragged my husband to Jo-Ann's on a Sunday which I will never again be so foolish as to do. The good news was all the fleece was on 40% sale, the bad news was there were some complete idiots in front of us that squabbled with each other and the assistant about how many yards of fabric they needed for most of the first half of the Steelers game. I was ready to jump in front of them and strangle them with their ugly blue fabric but the power of my unhatched dragon held me back. I agonized about the color choices which was ridiculous. Clearly the color is not going to be the thing that makes my dragon worse than everyone else's and more likely to make Ryleigh cry than love it. In the end I settled for a turquoisey blue with a colorful pattern for his wings and feet. I was determined to at least excel at selecting cute fabric and I think I succeeded. I bought four times more than I need because I know that I will screw up and I never ever EVER want to get back in line at the fabric cutting counter at Jo-Ann's.

Next was printing the pattern, which would have been easy if I had any printer paper.

To reflect the dramatic pause in my dragon-hatching project as accurately as possible I am going to publish this now. Why should you get to seemlessly enjoy the various stages of my craft when I cannot?

Don't hold your breath for the finished product, you and I both may never actually see it :)

buying crafty

I've been a stay at home mom for almost 5 months now. So far I have mainly been shopping online. I am not trying to be glib, truly, this is how I have been spending my days. I know the mailman and UPS guy better than I should. I have been asked if I am expecting anything, and have responded with a genuine "no" only to be given five packages.

I've been supporting a lot of crafty mama's since Ryleigh was born because I love all things handmade yet I can not make anything with these hands. Etsy, Hyena Cart, Pinterest and Paypal are permanently open tabs on my browser. I'm obsessed with cloth diapering, and now Waldorf Dolls, and for all the hours I spend with an infant attached to my boob there are twice as many spent scanning the web for diapers and dolls.

I made myself some cloth wipes, which was easy enough even for me. But making 8x8 squares to wipe butts with isn't the most satisfying of projects. I long to be able to knit, sew, crochet and make my own diapers, dolls, toys and clothes. Yet I continue to spend all of my time devoted to seeking out the best that money can buy that someone else made. That is the art I have perfected.

I am now an expert on stalking and stockings and getting my hands on hard-to-finds. I have collected more diapers than I could possibly need even if I was diapering triplets. It was starting to lose it's thrill to be honest. Then I stumbled across Bamboletta dolls (www.bamboletta.com), and I lost my heart and all my passion for diaper stalking and wholeheartedly threw myself into my new obsession. I think the time between discovering these dolls and being horrified by their price, and one arriving at my doorstep, was about a month. And as soon as I opened that box and saw this $300 beauty, I knew I had to have more.

The doll world opened it's arms to me just as the cloth diapering world did about a year before. There were instantly spreadsheets and wish lists and a number of Facebook groups added to my favorites. I'm a sponge and I am soaking it up. There will be more, many more I am sure. I am likely to be sent back to work in shame fairly soon.

In an effort to quell the craziness I want to learn how to make these dolls. A lofty goal indeed since I can't even sew on a button. I didn't know I was so granola, but the further I get along the parenthood journey I realize there is a good amount of crunch in this nut. That in itself is a whole other post which I mention only the hopes to remind myself to actually write it. But I digress. I have put in my request to the hubs for Christmas - a sewing machine - and I did so in plenty of time to ensure that as usual, I will get what I want. And I am going to buy some knitting needles and learn to knit. I have a mother who can do it, a grandmother that is pretty darn good at it, and YouTube, surely that's enough? I have been researching furiously in between making my wish list of dolls (which will cost as much as some people's cars) and am hoping that one day, in the not too distant future, I can blog about making Ryleigh a doll that her mama, not someone else's, made with love. For now though, I will keep writing about what I know best - my fast fingers that click "buy" after the crafty mamas rest theirs...